Qatar firm to aid creation of trade hub in Nigeria

The government of the State of Osun in Nigeria has entered a public-private partnership initiative with Qatar-based Gulf Warehousing Company (GWC) in a bid to create an industrial  and trade hub in the State capital Oshogbo.State of Osun Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola,  who is in Qatar on a business visit told members of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation–Qatar Chapter (NIDO-Qatar), that his government was planning to create a  commercial hub in Oshogbo. The local Nigerians were led by Engineer O J Millar, during a reception held at the Hilton Doha.“The government of the State of Osun in Nigeria is planning to create a  commercial hub in Oshogbo and this is the main plan of our administration because, we want to give a fillip to and encourage commercial activities in the state and that is why we are here…to get a partner that can help us develop a huge distribution centre for goods from Lagos and products from other parts of  Nigeria,” Ogbeni Aregbesola stated.According to him, the initiative is still at the preliminary stage and hopefully it would become a reality soon.Ogbeni Aregbesola was accompanied by the Commerce, Co-operation and Empowerment commissioner Adekunle Jayeoba Alagbada, Odu’a Investment Company Limited group managing director and chief executive officer Adebayo Jimoh, house speaker Najeem Salaam and Bureau of Social Services director general Femi Efaturoti.Jimoh said the project with the GWC will be a hub for distributing agricultural  products while also providing a storage facility for imported products for a considerable length of time.“With this kind of massive project, we hope to be able to make agricultural products affordable and ensure there is no scarcity of such products,” he said. “In the hub there is going to be a standard market for trade and value creation. It will also contain an industrial park with packaging and other facilities to support rural enterprises,” he stated.He mentioned that the GWC was selected because of the company’s experience and its success in Qatar and several other countries in the Middle East.“We know that the GWC has the capacity, the resources and the people to deliver. And State of Osun also has the resources to support them,” he stated.Other reason for visiting Qatar according to Jimoh was to seek partnership in developing agriculture in the State of Osun, part of an initiative by the administration called OREAP - Osun  Rural Entrepreneurship Agricultural Programme.“Mr Governor emphasises the importance of entrepreneurship and he wants the farmers to be the richest or among the richest in the community, so that they can stay happy farming,” he said.However, the official reiterated that the essence of OREAP was for those in diaspora to begin to think of coming back to Nigeria to create small-medium scale rural agricultural processing companies and not just to set up farming as a business.“Therefore, to support the rural enterprise the governor has seen the need to bring in investors who will create mass market,” he said while mentioning that some investors from the UAE called Concave Property Developers were partnering with the State of Osun on creating a modern integrated functional bazaar, which is similar to the grand bazaar in Istanbul.“The government has provided a parcel of land of close to 30 hectares for the planned market, which will have facilities such as an industrial park for innovative ideas on processing as well as to support the development of commerce to ensure commodity exchange between Osun and Lagos and export to countries outside Nigeria,” he mentioned.There are plans to build more of such markets in the State in the future, he added .While urging the Nigerians in Diaspora to always look back home to see what they can do for their  country, Ogbeni Aregbesola recalled that a diaspora group of Nigerians in Europe and America had recently visited the state to hold a summit presenting themselves and showcasing their expertise to Nigerians and the international community for development and partnership.He mentioned that his government has set up a one-stop office of Economic Development and Partnership to facilitate partnerships for business and investments both within and outside the State.